BLS 2013 Sequestration Information

On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the-board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS is taking the steps listed below:

Eliminate the Measuring Green Jobs products.
The BLS produces data on employment by industry and occupation for businesses that produce green goods and services. The BLS also conducts special employer surveys to provide data on the occupations and wages of jobs related to green technologies and practices, as well as develops and disseminates career information related to green jobs.

Eliminate the Mass Layoff Statistics program.
The Mass Layoff Statistics program provides information that identifies, describes, and tracks the effects of major job cutbacks in the economy.

Eliminate the International Labor Comparisons program.
The International Labor Comparisons (ILC) program adjusts foreign data to a common framework of concepts, definitions, and classifications to facilitate data comparisons between the United States and other countries. ILC data are used to assess United States economic performance relative to other countries, as well as to evaluate the competitive position of the United States in international markets.

Freeze hiring and curtail spending.
The quality and quantity of some BLS data likely will be diminished, as fewer resources are available to collect and review data or to perform data analysis. This may result in lower response rates, fewer published estimates, and a loss of detail in some data series. The reduced funding level also may result in a decline in customer service, as fewer Federal and State staff will be accessible to respond to data inquiries from the public, other Federal government agencies, and Congress.

Through these measures, the BLS expects to preserve to the extent possible the quality of its remaining products; however, the actions described above will reduce somewhat the ability of the BLS to supply timely and accurate information on the economy and labor market, and halt implementation of critical data improvements that were planned for this year.